I pressed a finger to my lips, silencing her.
She shook her head rapidly.
“It’s ok,” I whispered.
“What, Joe? I’m on the phone,” I yelled through the door.
The handle jiggled. Bastard was still trying to get in.
“You’ve got a situation out here.”
“What is it?” I had a fucking situation in here. I was ready to spend ten minutes in nirvana and he was cock-blocking me.
Julie had quietly stepped one foot and then another to the floor and reached for her shorts.
“Kennedy’s here.”
“Fuck,” I muttered. “I’ll be right out.” I stuffed my dick in my pants, trying like hell to adjust myself when it was nearly impossible.
I waited a second to make sure Joe was no longer in the hall before cracking the door. “He’s gone,” I reported.
“Kennedy?” she asked.
I rubbed the back of my head. “Nobody.”
“I bet,” she huffed, pulling the shorts over her tan legs. The scowl on her face was surprisingly sexy.
I held up the pair of torn panties. “Forgetting something?” I teased.
She glared at me, trying to snatch them from my hands.
“I think I’ll keep these as a souvenir.” I stuffed them in my pocket.
Her mouth opened in surprise. “Give them back.”
“You can have them back when we finish what we started,” I offered.
She re-tied her waitress apron and tried to brush past me. “It shouldn’t have happened. It got out of hand.”
“It didn’t even get close to where it needed to go, baby.” I raised my eyebrow at her.
I could tell she was still trying to calm her breathing. I had the same problem. My cock was a rod of steel in my pants and wanted to burst free and take this pretty girl.
I slipped a hand over her hip, drawing her toward me. I tipped her chin upward. I couldn’t help it. Kennedy was waiting. Joe was waiting. But I hadn’t had enough. I hadn’t gotten what I wanted.
4
Julie
His mouth was over mine and I felt a growl vibrate from his chest. My knees weakened and everything in my core tightened again in an instant. I relaxed into his arms, falling into his powerful hold. His tongue flicked against mine and I thought for a second that I could kiss this guy forever.
I didn’t care if I was in the back of a bar. Or that it could cost me this job. The job I took to help cover the rest of my bills. None of that seemed to matter when his tongue danced in perfect rhythm anywhere on my body.
He broke the kiss and I felt the quick plunge of regret sink in my stomach. What the hell had I done?
“I’ve gotta go, baby.” He tapped the tip of my nose. “Raincheck?” He winked.
There was no way in hell I was going to end up fucking some huge American Football Association star next to a stack of Styrofoam containers.
I nodded my head too eagerly. Everything in me ached. I was so close to coming in the most amazing and erotic way. I didn’t want to admit it had been way too long since a man had made those kinds of sounds emanate from my throat. I’d almost lit on fire the instant he touched me. Hawk was sexy and hot. He was a playboy. And he had made me break any and all rules I had ever lived by.
He stepped toward the door. “Count to ten or something before you walk out,” he instructed.
“Fine.” I didn’t want to sound like a bitch. It wasn’t his fault. It was my own for letting him drag me back here.
Now he had my panties in his pocket. I was turned on more than I ever had been in my life and I doubted I could ever ease that pain without him. Damn it.
He closed the door and I was left alone in the supply room to face the reality of what I had almost just done.
I yanked my phone from one of the apron pockets and quickly typed his name into the search engine.
My jaw dropped when I saw the list of headlines. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Maybe I had dodged a bullet. Womanizer didn’t come close to the list of sins on this guy’s list.
I flipped through article after article about the women. The alcohol. The parties. I sighed. Kane Hawkins was a train wreck. A sexy, smoldering train wreck that could destroy me.
I jumped when I heard another knock on the door.
“Julie? You in there?”
The door creaked open. Hannah popped her head inside. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you, girl. You are seriously in the weeds.”
“The weeds?”
She stared at me with her hands on her hips. “Your tables are backed up.” She smacked her gum.
“Oh, sorry.” I moved toward the door.
“Saw Kane walk out about a minute ago. You wouldn’t have been back here with him, would you?”
I felt the flush down my neck. I was so transparent. “What?” I tried to sound incredulous. I don’t know if I pulled it off.
“Piece of advice, honey. He’s a fuck and run type. No strings attached. You know what I’m saying?”
I nodded quietly. “Yes.”
I followed her down the hallway. “I’m serious. He’s slept with every girl in this place,” she smacked over her shoulder. “And he’s hot as shit, but if you expect a phone call or a steak dinner, you’ve got the wrong guy. Understand?”
I was too embarrassed or mortified to respond.
“Tables aren’t going to serve themselves.” She pointed to my section. How long had I been in the storage room? Every table was packed. But the only one I had eyes on was occupied by a tall, broad football player who had a sexy brunette on his lap.
5
Kane
Kennedy greeted me with a deep kiss. “Kane, baby. Wanna get out of here?”
My hesitation surprised even me. Pops was gone and Joe was sitting at the bar. Some of the other Sharks had joined him.
“Maybe later, babe.”
Her face filled with disappointment. I knew it was probably ridiculous. What was the difference between one pussy and another? But I'd had Kennedy. I knew what she had to offer. Yeah, she fucked like a wildcat, but I’d done that. Something happened in that storeroom just now. Something I hadn’t had time to process. Thinking about the way Julie’s pussy hugged my fingers made my cock hard.
The way she sounded. The way her innocent eyes lit with fire when I touched her. She was already addictive and I’d only known the girl an hour.
Kennedy pouted. “Babe, I just got into town. Don't be like that. Have I failed you yet?”
She gave me one of her seductive smiles, adjusting her breasts. One thing was for sure—she had great breasts. Breasts perfect for titty fucking. The image of her as I thrust my cock between her tits and blast cum all over her face made my blood rush again.
Two for one, I thought to myself.
I wondered if she and Julie would be willing to have a threesome, but the thought was fleeting. I wanted Julie all to myself with no distractions. Kennedy liked to be the center of attention.
That was how it had always been with her. I’d known Kennedy since college. She was one of the exceptions to my rule. But she was also the only woman who seemed ok with fucking without attachment. She was a rare find.
But I wasn’t up for her tonight. I had a taste of something new. I had a new thirst. Only a sip of a new honey and I wanted complete satisfaction. Until I fucked Julie, I wasn’t going to be happy.
And maybe it was more than that. But like fuck if I was going to talk to Kennedy about that shit. She might be my fuck buddy, but she was still a woman. A woman with long claws she liked to sink into me when she got the chance.
“What is wrong with you? You’re acting weird. You’re never like this after a game,” she huffed.
I didn’t need her psychoanalysis of my emotional state. I knew exactly what I needed. I looked around for Julie. I hadn’t seen her since I walked out of the storeroom, but I had Kennedy to thank for that.
I felt the familiar squeeze on my thigh, inching to
ward my cock. It was still hard and throbbing.
“Well hello, baby,” she sighed.
I pushed her off my leg. “Knock it off, Kennedy.”
“You’re playing hard to get tonight? I can role play if you want.” Her fingers walked over my bicep as if they were a pair of legs.
“I assure you I’m not.”
“You’re as hard as a rock. Let’s get out of here and fuck.”
I’d had enough. Before I could snap at her, I saw the flash of blond hair from the corner of my eye. I turned and heard Julie’s voice in an unnatural octave.
There was a big burly biker hot on her heels.
“Look, I told you, Steve. I'm not interested.”
“Aww … Come on, babe," he said, grabbing her ass.
She cried out, swatting at his hulking hand. His other hand latched onto her waist.
I lost it. It sent me over the edge. Her pleas. His relentless stupidity. I jumped from the table, knocking the stool over in the process.
Within a second, I was face to face with the bastard.
“Steve, is it? Why don't you leave her the fuck alone?” My eyes raged with anger.
“Why don't you mind your own damn business? This is between me and the bitch.”
“It’s fine, Hawk, I’ve got it,” Julie eked out as Mike reached around and grabbed her ass again.
Fury filled me. I’d be damned if I was going to stand here and let him continue to touch her after she had already told him to stop. I lost all composure. I seized him and turned him to face me. I reared back to punch him. Before I could, Joe gripped my arm, holding me back just as the biker’s fist sailed toward my face. The impact pushed Joe and me backward.
I saw red. There was only one way this would end.
Everything around me faded as the fuel of injustice powered through me. All I could focus on was Steve and his filthy hands all over Julie. Her telling him over and over to stop. I hit him once that I knew of and then probably again, but I couldn’t remember.
“Dude. Stop. The cops have been called,” Joe pleaded.
At that moment, the blackness swallowed me whole.
6
Julie
My stomach rumbled for the tenth time in the last five minutes. This time loud enough to be heard across the room. I had forgotten breakfast as I rushed out the door this morning. And I hadn’t thought about bringing lunch. Again.
I needed to start taking better care of myself, but there were only so many hours in a day and it seemed that out of the twenty-four most people were able to function with, I had thirty-five hours of work to complete. That didn’t include showering or eating.
I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to reach up on my toes to get a stretch down the back of my legs. I should have been used to being on my feet all day, but once I added night shifts, my body revolted. It was too much. All of it.
There was another reason I couldn’t eat. It could be summed up in two words: Kane Hawkins.
I sighed louder than I meant to, but I glanced out the windows that lined the wall on the left of the classroom. All the children were on the playground, and I had a break from recess duty. I had a minute to let my stomach roll with the memory of what happened last week. It wavered between nausea, excitement, and dread.
I turned from the window. It was supposed to be easy money. Guaranteed to add enough cash in my pocket to pay my bills so I didn’t have to leave the education center. I sat on the corner of my desk. I took a job doing something humiliating so I could keep one that meant more to me than anything else. It was some kind of twisted poetic irony.
Nothing else that happened once I tied on that waitress apron made any sense. I almost had sex in the back of the bar. I had let a man I’d never met touch me. Kiss me. Lick me. Suck me like a piece of candy.
And I liked it. No, I loved it.
And for what? To get pawed at by a drunken biker? And then to have Kane Hawkins defend my honor and end up being hauled off to jail? None of it made sense.
I felt guilty. Guilty about everything. The almost sex. Missing part of my shift. The fight. Hawk’s arrest. Dragging my ass to work exhausted every morning this week. There wasn’t a corner I could turn to where I didn’t feel the guilt.
It was as if something had possessed me that night. Something sexy. Something forbidden. And it was almost Hawk. I had almost let him take total control over me.
“Miss Bristow?”
I jumped at the sound of the small voice behind me.
“Hey, JJ.”
I thought I was alone. I had let my thoughts drift to places I never should have let them go at the center. Teaching here was my true calling. These kids needed me. And they needed me to get my shit together.
I could relate to them. I thought maybe more than some of the other teachers. There was a part of me that was like them. I had lost my mom at a young age. I knew what it was like to feel that kind of pain. To feel like I had been abandoned. I knew it too well. If these kids were lucky, they had one parent. But looking at JJ, I knew he wasn’t one of those.
“Is it ok if I stay inside?” he asked.
“Don’t you want to play with everyone else?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. I just want to read.”
He scuffed his feet along the linoleum floor. It wasn’t the worst request he could make.
“All right,” I caved. JJ was one of those kids who was quiet. He’d rather bury his head in a book than play kick ball or tag.
He settled into his desk and pulled a mystery ghost story from his backpack. I pulled out my chair and finally braved my phone. I pulled a news page and started skimming for a headline.
I had been nervous all day. I wondered if there would be news about Hawk. I wondered if I would be called in. Would he need me to testify? Would he have a fair judge? Should I try to call his attorney and offer to make a statement?
Should I call my dad at work and get his advice? I knew that was pointless. He was a huge Sharks fan, but he worked in family court. He couldn’t get involved to help in this situation. Add to that, I hadn’t told him I took a job waiting tables and I would have more explaining to do. I didn’t need that right now.
I looked up when I heard the shuffle of more feet enter the classroom. Recess was over. I sighed when the bell rang overhead. Another day gone. Another lesson taught. The students rushed in, grabbing their backpacks and lunch boxes before lining up by the door. I hurried them down the hall to the carpool line and then to the bus line, dropping them off along the way.
I returned to the classroom and smiled at Hunter.
“So what club do you have today?” I asked, patting him gently on the shoulder.
He shrugged just slightly from my touch. Over time, I had gotten used to his aversion of being close to other people. But there were moments when I could reach out. Show him warmth.
There were a variety of programs set up at the education center for underprivileged kids and their families after school. There was everything ranging from ballet and gymnastics to soccer and swimming.
“I don’t know.” He looked at the floor. “Football, I guess?”
I felt a small wave of relief. Today would be a good day. I wouldn’t have to prod and convince him. Normally he chose not to participate in any of the clubs, but for some reason, football had sparked his interest.
I hoped it pulled him out of his shell.
Something had to work.
“Well, come on then.”
We scurried through the maze of halls past my third grade classroom door and out the exit door to the playground, where just a few minutes ago I had spotted Hunter watching the other kids play.
I couldn’t say what the exact date was that I decided Hunter was going to be my project. Or when I decided that I would do everything I could to watch over him and protect him. It just sort of happened. Like when the leaves changed in fall. It happened in front of my eyes day after day until I was the one responsible to pick him up in the morning
from the foster home where he stayed. I enrolled him in the center’s community club program and was responsible for returning him home at the end of the day.
Some days I kept him a little late and we’d get dinner. Or if we had an early release day I’d take him to a movie.
One look at those big green eyes and a face that was constantly covered in smudges. Shaggy blond hair that fell into his eyes and my heart fell for this kid.
“Have fun, Hunter. I’ll be inside grading the writing assignments, ok?”
He had wandered to the outside of the circle. I was worried he might not make it inside the group and would spend the afternoon on the perimeter. I couldn’t hover. I couldn’t intervene every time. I knew that.
“Excuse me, Julie?” I heard someone call my name and I turned on my heels.
Raising my hand to my forehead, I blocked the sun from my eyes and squinted trying to get a better view of the person with that deep booming voice. But I knew who it came from before he came into focus.
7
Kane
“You are Julie Bristow? This has to be a fucking joke.”
I stared at the woman I had defended last week. But instead of tight cutoff shorts and a barmaid apron, she was wearing heels, a pencil skirt, and a cardigan.
“Oh God.” Her mouth dropped open.
I chuckled. This was fucking sweet.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, tugging me away from the group of children near her.
“Reporting for volunteer service. You are my sentence.” I felt a primal urge kick in. Something from last week was unearthed when I laid eyes on this angel-turned-devil again.
“I don’t get it. What are you talking about?”
“The judge today assigned me to the community center. Something about helping a bunch of fucking kids.”
I saw the fury in her eyes. “Don’t you dare say that here.” She moved me farther from the group. “You aren’t going to march in here and start dropping f-bombs around my kids.”
Beauty and the Billionaire Bachelors Page 15
